Hiring a Lawyer to Handle Your Discrimination Claim

A number of federal laws prohibit workplace discrimination against employees and job applicants who are members of certain protected classes. State and local laws provide additional protections, too.

Protected Classes

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, it's illegal for employers with at least 15 employees to discriminate based on:

race
color
religion
sex
sexual orientation
gender identity, and
national origin.

Another federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating on the basis of a person's real or perceived disability, while the Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies to employers with at least 20 employees, and protects those aged 40 and older from age discrimination.

Other federal antidiscrimination laws include:

the Equal Pay Act, which forbids wage discrimination on the basis of sex
the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which outlaws discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions
the National Labor Relations Act, which precludes employers from discriminating on the basis of union membership
the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits employers from considering an individual's genetic makeup, such as a predisposition to a certain disease
the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of citizenship status, and
the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, which outlaws age discrimination in the context of employee benefit programs.

In addition, every state has its own laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace based on characteristics like those above. These laws often provide greater protections than what's available under federal law. For example, state laws might impose tougher penalties, apply to employers with fewer employees, or proscribe discrimination based on other factors, such as gender identity or receipt of government benefits.

Local laws and your employer's own policies can provide even more protections. Check with your state's fair employment agency, your human resources department, or a local employment lawyer for details.

When Can Illegal Discrimination Occur?

Antidiscrimination laws apply to virtually all of an employer's decisions and actions in the context of employment. Here are some examples of activities that are covered:

writing job descriptions
advertising vacancies
interviewing applicants
hiring and promoting employees
determining pay and benefits, and
disciplining and firing workers.

In the above contexts and many others, the law prohibits employers from taking any adverse action against a person that is based in any way on a protected characteristic.

Actions that appear to be nondiscriminatory on the surface can actually constitute illegal discrimination. For example, a court might conclude that a job posting for a "recent college graduate" is an instance of age discrimination, because it could discourage older candidates from applying.

Antidiscrimination laws also prohibit the harassment of employees based on protected characteristics, as well as retaliation against employees who have alleged discrimination. For example, it's illegal to move a worker to a less desirable office because that worker has filed a sexual harassment claim.

Winning a Discrimination Claim

Before filing a lawsuit, you must first file a claim for discrimination with the federal agency charged with enforcing federal employment laws, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or your state's fair employment agency. The EEOC or state agency will investigate your claims and try to resolve the charge.

If the EEOC finds reasonable cause to believe discrimination has occurred, it will issue a "Letter of Determination" to both parties, requesting that they try to resolve the dispute through an informal process called "conciliation."

If the EEOC doesn’t find discrimination—or if conciliation doesn’t produce a satisfactory result for you—the agency will issue a "right to sue" letter that allows you to file a lawsuit in court.

To win a claim for illegal discrimination, you’ll need to prove all of the following:

You’re a member of a protected class—for instance, for an age discrimination claim under federal law you must have been at least 40 years old at the time the discrimination occurred.
You were qualified to perform the job or receive a certain benefit.
Your employer made an adverse employment decision that affected you, such as disciplining or firing.
You were treated less favorably than others not in your protected class.

Employers often respond to discrimination complaints by arguing that the adverse action had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason, such as poor job performance. The employee can then try to show that the employer's stated reason was just a pretext for unlawful discrimination.

Example. A 54-year-old flight attendant reports to work five minutes late. Her boss fires her, explaining that even though it was the flight attendant’s first time showing up late, the airline has a "zero tolerance" policy on tardiness. The flight attendant sues for age discrimination, alleging that the airline routinely made exceptions to its zero tolerance policy for younger employees, some of whom were repeat offenders. The flight attendant will win if she can show that the airline’s "zero tolerance" explanation was a mere pretext for her firing, and that the real reason was her age.